Am I Playing to Win or Am I Playing Not to Lose?

Thursday, February 7, 2019

Am I playing to win or am I playing not to lose? Teams and people that play not to lose stay within their bounds of what they think is possible, they play with fear of losing, they hope to win, they don’t go all out. Teams and players that play to win go all out and play with faith, with trust in their abilities and that they have and know enough to succeed and if not they trust in their preparation that they’ll be ready for whatever new challenges come up. 

Think about it, what happens if you play to win, you play all out but what if you lose? A winners attitude will seek to learn where things went wrong, they’ll ask themselves; “why did I lose? What did I do or didn’t do?” Winners always seek growth.

On the other hand, if you play not to lose you’ll never know what you were capable of. You’ll never have a chance to learn new insights about yourself and what you do to get better. You always stay within your comfort zone, your capabilities. And chances are those who play not to lose will always have an excuse as to why they didn’t or couldn’t win. I’ve been there! And I’ve been on the other side too - on the winners side. It takes courage, it takes strength, toughness, hunger, determination, perseverance, faith and hope to step into winning. When faced with the choice of whether to play to win or play not to lose I hope you’ll go all out and play to win. 

Because as Teddy Roosevelt said in The Man in the Arena, “The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

And as Rudyard Kipling said, “if you can fill the unforgiving minute, with sixty seconds’ worth of distance run, yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it, And- which is more- you’ll be a Man, my son!”

I hope you’ll dare greatly! And know that you are not alone. You are never alone. I am with you!!

-Coach Z

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